Between 1973 and 1996, Carter Burden, a cultural benefactor and former New York City councilman, assembled the greatest collection of modern American literature in private hands. This exhibition brings together nearly one hundred outstanding works from the collection, including first editions, manuscripts, letters, and revised galley proofs. Authors featured in this unparalleled exhibition are some of the twentieth century's most celebrated—William Faulkner, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Allen Ginsberg, Ernest Hemingway, Langston Hughes, John Irving, Henry James, Jack Kerouac, Norman Mailer, Toni Morrison, J. D. Salinger, Gertrude Stein, John Steinbeck, John Updike, Tennessee Williams, and Richard Wright among others.
This exhibition is made possible by lead funding from Karen H. Bechtel.